Icelandic Prices (Homes and Cars)

2POSTS

14 years ago

Hallo everyone! My name is Caleb, me and my wife are very interested in moving to Iceland (we're from Puerto Rico, US) we're already gathering the requirements for the application for permanent residence permits.
Thing is that I've been inquiring for a long time regarding the house costs and everything but I must say I am a bit confused, I've read on this website and in several others that a house can cost from 199,000isk to 320,000isk (depending on the location), but then when I visit an Icelandic car dealer website it says a car can cost 2,300,00isk. So I'm not sure if I'm missing something and getting something wrong lol.
Also (this one isn't in the title, sorry) there's this section of the requirements that say we need a certification of us taking an Islenska course. Is there a way to take certified lessons online? we do know a bit of Islenska but we'll be needing the certification.

Sorry for the bunch of questions lol, any help that can be given will be most appreciated.

Best regards
- Caleb

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ECS Norway Expert

1567POSTS

14 years ago

Hi,

3 things:
1) it's going to be difficult to gather the requirements for the Icelandic permanent residence permit if you haven't already lived in Iceland for several years, since one requirement is that you have held the same type of residence permit in Iceland for the previous four years:
http://utl.is/index.php?option=com_cont … 90&lang=en

2) add 2 zeros to the house prices and you're more in the ballpark range. Here's one of the big real estate websites. A random sample I took from their main page was 44 million ISK for a 200 square meter house in the Reykjavik area:
http://fasteignir.visir.is/

3) You have to either take an Icelandic test (offered in a few places in Iceland) that involves reading, writing, and speaking, or you have to have certificates of 150 hours of study from one of a list of accredited institutions. As far as I'm aware, none offer distance learning credits:
http://utl.is/index.php?option=com_cont … 91&lang=en

1 member reacted to this post

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KlebtheSpaceman Member

2POSTS

14 years ago

Thank you so much! It makes sense now and it's definitely less complicated, I was busting my head trying to figure out how in the world I could get the certification from an accredited place if I couldn't live there lol. This has been very helpful

thank you.

Michael mcDaniel Member

11POSTS

6 years ago

Are there exceptions to the speaking requirement for the profoundly deaf?

ECS Norway Expert

1567POSTS

6 years ago

there are exceptions to the language requirements, as listed in this article
https://utl.is/index.php/en/permanent-r … permit-xyz

The reasons listed are:
The applicant is older than 65 and has lived in Iceland for at least the past seven (7) years, or
the applicant is unable to attend a course in the Icelandic language for physical or mental reasons and this is confirmed by a competent specialist, or
the applicant is able to submit documents confirming that he/she has completed study in the Icelandic language at primary, secondary or university level which gives cause to assume that the relevant applicant has obtained satisfactory knowledge of the Icelandic language.

I'm sure if you can also demonstrate competence in reading/writing and have documentation for why speaking or listening is physically not possible, an exception would be made.

1 member reacted to this post

Michael mcDaniel Member

11POSTS

6 years ago

Thanks for your reply, ECS.

PinkSquirrel Member

1POSTS

2 years ago

Hello

My family is seriously contemplating moving to Iceland. Can I buy a home without permanent residence status? Our intention is to work on getting permanent residence status.

ECS Norway Expert

1567POSTS

2 years ago

@PinkSquirrel If you have legal residency, you can buy property. There doesn't seem to be a requirement that the residency be permanent. See here for the government legislation:

https://www.government.is/topics/foreig … ty-rights/

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